NJDOT's
Lettiere receives Regional Business Partnership's Transportation
Person of the Year Award

Lettiere: “We are committed to keeping the State's economy moving”

(Newark)
At a reception at the Newark Club this morning, New Jersey Department
of Transportation (NJDOT) Commissioner Jack Lettiere was named
the 2005 Transportation Person of the Year by the Regional Business
Partnership, a membership organization dedicated to improving
the Greater Newark region's business opportunities.

Regional
Business Partnership Chairman Robert A. Marino, a senior vice
president for market business units at Horizon Blue Cross Blue
Shield of New Jersey saluted Commissioner Lettiere at the group's
Annual Transportation Awards breakfast, where the group honored
individuals for their contributions to transportation in the region.

“Lettiere
is a tireless advocate and consummate professional” Marino said.
“Lettiere led the charge for essential reform of the State's nearly
bankrupt Transportation Trust Fund and has insisted that both
reform and renewal are necessary for the state to maintain its
infrastructure that is so vital to economic development. We are
honored to salute his achievements this morning.”

“Unfortunately
in New Jersey , we have not put the necessary emphasis on transportation
investments. Our transportation network is the lifeline of our
economy, facilitating the movement of over $7 billion worth of
goods and services,” noted Lettiere. “Not only do investments
in transportation help get your employees to and from work, but
transportation investments produce jobs at an exponential rate—and
I'm not talking about only construction work.”

Lettiere
noted that the department's Fiscal Year 2006 Capital Construction
Program, which will invest $2.6 billion in safety and congestion
relief projects, will support over 100,000 jobs in the region.
The Federal Highway Administration has stated that for every billion
dollars spent on transportation projects over 42,000 jobs are
supported, with roughly half of those jobs related to construction.

Currently,
NJDOT has over 115 projects valued at more than $640 million dollars
ongoing in Fiscal Year 2005. They include 50 capital projects
estimated at over $500 million dollars and 65 maintenance and
operations projects estimated at more than $140 million dollars.
Each project will make an improvement in safety and in the everyday
quality of life of commuters that utilize those roadways.